Fans feared that Ghostland Observatory’s 2010 album, Codename: Rondo, would be their last. Since their start in 2005, the Austin-based duo had gone from a beloved local electronic act, quirky and addictive, to festival darlings who snatched headliner spots at Coachella and Austin City Limits. The rise was meteoric, but an aggressive tour schedule eventually took its toll. The band announced an official hiatus in 2013.

That’s where the story ends for many musicians. A brief but prolific period of success, followed by a crash, and then nothing. But after years of silence, Ghostland Observatory is back.

See You Later, Simulatordrops today, September 7, and it’s chock full of the glitzy, earworm hooks that packed venues full of sweaty college kids early in the band’s career. The fourth album is familiar in that way, but there seems to be a more reflective nature to the work. “It’s definitely a rebirth for us because we took off for quite a bit of time,” says frontman Aaron Behrens. “We had our time to regenerate and get back to the point of stepping on the stage again and being excited and energetic about it.”

Ghostland Observatory let us into their South Austin rehearsal studio for a special session of Sound Check. Watch the duo tackle “Miss Abyss” from See You Later, Simulator.

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